Compare / DeepSeek V3.2 Exp vs MiniMax M3

DeepSeek V3.2 Exp vs MiniMax M3

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 15 results on 3 sources that measured both models.

DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
DeepSeek · profile
MiniMax M3
MiniMax · profile
Results compared
15
Shared sources
3

DeepSeek V3.2 Exp or MiniMax M3? The short answer

  • DeepSeek V3.2 Exp is cheaper: $0.30 against $0.52 per million tokens, 42% less.
  • MiniMax M3 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 29.2 against 16.6.
  • On our business benchmarks, DeepSeek V3.2 Exp ranks higher for agents and tool use and sticking to the facts.
  • On our business benchmarks, MiniMax M3 ranks higher for reasoning and knowledge and writing.

At a glance

DeepSeek V3.2 ExpMiniMax M3
Price per million tokens$0.27 in · $0.41 out$0.30 in · $1.20 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$0.30$0.52
Cheapest host, blended–$0.41 (CoreWeave, FP4)
Intelligence Index16.629.2
Spring Prompt overall––
Output speed, tokens a second–81
Context window163,840 tokens1,048,576 tokens
WeightsOpenOpen
Developer based inChinaChina

Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.

Which is better for what

Each model's rank among models available today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. The better rank is in green.

Use caseDeepSeek V3.2 ExpMiniMax M3
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 70 of 161 71 of 161
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects not measured 39 of 51
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 102 of 195 36 of 195
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 69 of 187 61 of 187
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 41 of 153 94 of 153

Every shared result

BenchmarkMetricDeepSeek V3.2 ExpMiniMax M3
Arena (formerly LMArena)reportedOverallArena rating 1,4461,434
Arena (formerly LMArena)reportedBusiness, management and financeArena rating 1,4221,450
Arena (formerly LMArena)reportedCreative writingArena rating 1,4091,406
Arena (formerly LMArena)reportedExpert promptsArena rating 1,4491,471
Arena (formerly LMArena)reportedInstruction followingArena rating 1,4161,435
Arena (formerly LMArena)reportedOverallArena rating 1,4251,440
Arena (formerly LMArena)reportedWriting, literature and languageArena rating 1,4101,422
Artificial AnalysisreportedArtificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score 16.629.2
Artificial AnalysisreportedGPQA Diamond% of questions 79.7%92.9%
Artificial AnalysisreportedHumanity's Last Exam% of questions 14.9%39.0%
Artificial AnalysisreportedIFBench% of instructions 54.1%82.9%
Artificial AnalysisreportedLong-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions 72.3%83.0%
Artificial AnalysisreportedTerminal-Bench Hard% of tasks 31.1%42.4%
Artificial AnalysisreportedΤ²-bench telecom% of tasks 33.9%88.9%
Vending-Bench 2reportedMoney after a yearUS dollars $1,034.00$2,157.77

Bold green marks the better value on that metric. Where a source reports ranges that overlap, the difference may not be meaningful; see the benchmark page for ranges.

Quick answers

Is DeepSeek V3.2 Exp better than MiniMax M3?

It depends on the task. Among models available today, on our benchmarks and licensed sources, DeepSeek V3.2 Exp ranks higher for agents and tool use and sticking to the facts; MiniMax M3 ranks higher for reasoning and knowledge and writing.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V3.2 Exp or MiniMax M3?

DeepSeek V3.2 Exp costs $0.30 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $0.52 for MiniMax M3.

Run DeepSeek V3.2 Exp and MiniMax M3 on your own prompt

Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.